1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to water removing devices and more particularly to novel lifting device and method for use in conjunction with roller-type water removing devices. The present device is configured to facilitate easy lifting of an unbalanced, absorbent water removing device.
The present invention comprises a horizontally displaced wheel or roller arrangement attached to the carriage of the roller or sufficiently spaced so as to facilitate easy, stable lifting of the roller during the water removing process.
2. Prior Art & General Background
Today, removing water and drying hard surfaces, such a tennis courts, is predominantly done by using rollers, such as the "Rol-Dri".TM. roller for removing water from and simultaneously drying hard surfaces, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,339 issued Jul. 6, 1976. This roller will remove water from a tennis court by absorbing and pushing the water to the edge of the surface or to a drain. To continue drying the surface, the roller must be lifted and walked back to the starting point. Pulling the roller back to the starting point would pull water back on the dried surface.
Our experience has found that in drying the surface of a tennis court the average number of times a roller is lifted is approximately fifty times. This is very tiresome, specially when the roller that weighs about eight pounds dry and eighteen pounds wet remains wet and heavy after coming in contact with water. It is also necessary to lift the roller apparatus when replacing it to its storage position so as to avoid getting any dry surface wet.
The "Lifting Wheeled Arrangement" for rollers that removes water from and simultaneously dries hard surfaces will allow the user to eliminate lifting the roller while using it and thereby increasing the life of the roller.
A list of prior patents which may be of interest is presented below:
______________________________________ Patent No. Patentee(s) Issue Date ______________________________________ 1,525,617 Mills 02/10/1925 3,967,339 Newman 07/06/1976 4,358,123 Richards 11/09/1982 651,625 (GDR) Burkhard 10/16/1937 ______________________________________
Richards teaches an attachment for a ground traversing device specifically adapted for a broom or similar device and having a somewhat circular bracket engageable around the broom handle and an axle pivotally mounted on the bracket.
Mills teaches similarly a "U" configured axle pivotally connected via circular bracket to the handle of a push brush or broom.
Burkhard likewise teaches a similar configuration for a device connected via circular bracket to the broom handle for facilitating less tiresome operation of push brushes, brooms and the like.
The present invention is clearly distinguishable over the above cited prior art in that it teaches a lifting wheeled arrangement specifically designed to be attached to the carriage of water removing rollers, such as the "Rol-Dri".TM. roller or the like for use in conjunction with tennis courts and the like, as opposed to the handle of the roller.
Mounting the arrangement to the carriage is essential to facilitate desirable operation of the present invention, as a mounting on the handle, as is taught in the prior art, would not work in the efficient manner contemplated by the present invention. The present roller to which the present invention is applied can weigh from twenty five to forty pounds, depending upon the content of water absorbed by the roller material.
Often the water is absorbed unevenly through the roller, such that one side of the roller may have more water than the other side, thereby creating an imbalance. If the lifting device was mounted as taught in the prior art, that is, on the handle, the roller would at best wobble and at worst tilt to one side lifting one of the wheels off of the ground and thereby making effective utilization of the lifting means as contemplated by the prior art impossible.
The mounting brackets on the present system are not "circular" brackets as contemplated in the prior art for connection to the handle, but are instead flat, somewhat rectilinear brackets adapted to be mounted to the carriage of the roller.
The mounting brackets are specifically designed to compensate for the potential imbalance contemplated above; the spaced mounting means as contemplated in the present invention would be unobtainable with the handle mounts as taught in the prior art.
For the present invention to operate as contemplated, it is imperative that this spaced mounting means be used; said means effectively distributes the contact point of the present bracket to the roller allowing the bracket to better compensate for an imbalance. Again, because of the spacing necessary for a balanced mounting, it is imperative that said means be mounted to the carriage of the roller and not to the handle, as taught in the prior art.
Further, the present invention is distinguishable from the prior art as the bracket had to be designed to lift a much heavier load than the prior art. As enumerated supra, the roller can weigh as much as 25-40 pounds, depending upon the degree of liquid saturation, porosity of the roller, etc. The objects lifted with the lifting brackets of the prior art weighed at most 5-15 pounds, thereby putting much less stress on their lifting brackets.
In addition to the heavy duty construction, the present invention's connection directly to the carriage and not the handle enables the user to take advantage of the full leverage potential of the handle, thereby more efficiently lifting the roller. Further, the roller means of the present invention are positioned somewhat to the rear of the mounting bracket and not below said bracket as is taught in the prior art; this positioning allows still further leverage potential.
This is in comparison to the prior art, which teaches a mounting bracket connected on the handle 1 to 2+ feet from the base, thereby providing much less efficient leveraged lifting means. Further, the rolling means of the prior art is taught in the form of 5+ inch wheels directly below said mounting means, further lessening the leverage potential. With the present invention, the additional efficiency as enumerated in the design of the lifting wheeled arrangement was necessary due to the need for leveraged lifting of a potentially heavy roller.
The present invention is entirely distinguishable from the prior art, said prior art not anticipating the unbalanced effect possible with the uneven saturation of liquid to the porous composition of the rollers; the mounting means is thus unobvious in light of what has been taught before.